THE CONCEPTION OF MAJOR STAKEHOLDERS OF BY NURUL …

THE CONCEPTION OF MAJOR STAKEHOLDERS OF QUALITY IN CHILD CARE: CASE STUDIES IN

SELECTED NATIONAL HIGHER LEARNING INSTITUTIONS IN MALAYSIA

BY

NURUL ALIAH MUSTAFA

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education

Institute of Education

International Islamic University Malaysia

AUGUST2010

ABSTRACT

The quality of early care and education services is absolutely critical in providing a beginning or foundation for lifelong learning for young children. The mushrooming of early care and education services or child care centres throughout the country due to high demand for child care centres in Malaysia and the needs for the standardization or the benchmarking on the child care centre structure is very vital. However, identifying the benchmarking as well as standardization regardless of the civilization, cultural, nations and religion in defining quality child care is not a simple thing to do. In support of that, the idea of quality child care can be more elaborated even in a complex way of understanding it. Given this situation, it is high time to put standardization in child care services in Malaysia into place. The purpose of this study is to elicit and describe the parents', teachers' and administrators' and policy maker's conception of quality in child care in selected national higher institutions in Malaysia. It is also the intent of this study to come to the consensus on their perceptions of quality in child care which can be further carried on to develop comprehensive and integrated child care guidelines for the whole nation. These multi site case studies used open-ended interviews with 21 respondents to gather information concerning stakeholders' experiences and concerns regarding child care. The 4 child care centres chosen for this study are those attached to or associated with the National Higher Leaming Institutions in Malaysia. Findings revealed quality has been viewed in two broad components. They are (1) structural components which are measuring tangible components of quality in child care; and (2) process components. Structural and process components have to be combined in making children's experience in child care richly rewarding and of the highest possible quality (Lamb, 1998). Process components which include staff and children's behavior were also applied in understanding the other parts of quality components. Other findings also revealed that major stakeholders' conception of quality revolves around the structural and process components, in particular the effectiveness of administration and management of the child care centres with regard to the activities of children, staff as well as the parents. Other concerns also include staff training, staff commitment, and the teaching and learning materials. They also stressed on the additional domains of quality that they consider important, such as systematic activities or programmes or curriculum and safety. Thus, many factors need to be incorporated in the child care centre in order for it to be called quality child care. None of the items can stand on its own as it involves the human factor. Thus, human beings require an efficient system or programme to function well.

11

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iii

APPROVAL PAGE

This thesis ofNurul Aliah Binti Mustafa has been approved by the following:

Nik Suryani Supervisor

Siti Rafiah Abdi Hamid Internal Examiner

Nor Hashimah Hashim External Examiner

Khadijah Zon External Examiner

Nasr Eldin Ibrahim Ahmad Hussein Chairperson

IV

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this dissertation is the result of my own investigations, except

where otherwise stated. I also declare that it has not been previously or concurrently

submitted as a whole for any other degrees at IIUM or other institutions.

Nurul Aliah Mustafa

Signature ...... b ........... . ~/i/J.olo Date ............................... .

V

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

DECLARATION OF COPYRIGHT AND AFFIRMATION OF FAIR USE OF UNPUBLISHED

RESEARCH

Copyright © 2010 by Nurul Aliah Mustafa. All rights reserved.

A DISCUSSION ON THE INTELLECTUAL PROCESS FORMING THE INTENTION: A CHIEF BASE FOR LEGAL CAPACITATING IN

CONTRACTS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MAJOR JUDICIAL EVENTS

No part of this unpublished research may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder except as provided below.

1. Any material contained in or derived from this unpublished research may only be used by others in their writing with due acknowledgment.

2. IIUM or its library will have the right to make and transmit copies (print or electronic) for institutional and academic purposes.

3. The IIUM library will have the right to make, store in a retrieval system and supply copies of this unpublished research if requested by other universities and research libraries.

Affirmed by Nurul Aliah Mustafa

Signature Date

vi

To My Parents

MyMom Khadijah Awang

And

Mydad Haji Mustafa Awang

I am honored to have you as my parents. I love you.

Vll

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, praise be to Allah The Most Gracious and The Most Merciful for granting me the strength to complete this work and make my dream come true in sharing the little knowledge that I have about quality child care with my fellow human beings for the sake of the children, Insya Allah.

Presently working at the children centre that is involved in the areas of child care, kindergarten and day care, I found it possible to carry out this study only with the help and support of many people in the field. It has been my endless and valuable experience to attempt to conduct this study on a 'voluntary' basis, without financial back-up from any organization. It is a matter that is really worth for me even though is not an easy task to do. I did it anyway. The people around me are an endless form of support that without them, I would not have reached this far. I would like to express my gratitude to those who have helped and supported me throughout this accomplishment.

I am very lucky to have benefited a lot from my major supervisor, Dr. Nik Suryani Binti Nik Abdul Rahman, for her wealth of experience, expertise, vast knowledge, motherly touch and advice, guidance and understanding during my study. Not to mention her time spent in showing me the light to find the correct technique to my topic. I have learned a lot from our discussion, brainstorming and even during informal conversation. Not only that, her responsibility went beyond the supervisor task. Her thoughtful comments and ongoing support as well as motherly reminder throughout the study were and still will be inspirational in my life. If not for her, I might not be able to finish it by now, be so motivated despite the lack of time and other hardships in life which makes this study and our relationship so special and so dear to my heart. Only Allah S.W.T can ever repay your kindness to me.

I would like to thank my former coordinator at work, Dr. Zaleha Bt. Izhab for her trust and encouragement that I could do this. I want to thank her for her continuing prayers, encouragement, motivation, advice, and support that have helped me in this study as well as in life.

A special thanks to my post supervisor, Associate Professor Dr. Nik Ahmad Hisham Ismail for the encouragement and guidance during the process. He went beyond the call of the work requirement to inspire and uplift me.

I would like to express my appreciation to the members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Siti Rafiah Abd Hamid and Dr. Haniza Rais and for their support, guidance, suggestions, useful information and helpful comments for the thesis. They have my endless respect and gratitude for what they have shared with me.

Thanks are also due to the participants of this study. Their willingness to share their views on quality child care made this study possible.

Vlll

I am very honored and flattered to work with committed, innovative, supportive, and caring staff in the IIUM EDUCARE Child Development Center, in particular, the management team; Dg. Raihan Abdul Fatah, Sharifah Fakrudin, Fariza Hasan Basri, Siti Zaleha Hussin, Fauziah Yusof, Nurul Aini Mohd Yusof, Nuraini Alwi, Fadzillah Omar Othman, Zunaidah Marsidi, Norhayati Mohamed Khusaini, Norsuzliana Md Shafie, Yusmawati Mohd Yusof and Anis Haziqah Mustapai. Their diversity, honesty, and perseverance against obstacles that I can only imagine have taught me more than they will ever, ever know. They are truly dedicated and committed in improving the lives of children at IIUM EDU CARE and Malaysia as a whole and I specially dedicated this study to them and all staff of IIUM EDUCARE Child Development Center, International Islamic University, Malaysia.

My deepest and heartfelt thanks to my good friend, Rosdi Effendi Bin Mohammed Effendi for his understanding, love, support and encouragement throughout our relationship. He also gives a lot of strength in my endeavor on this long journey though we had been through very hard times in our relationship. He helped in dozens of ways including being a great critic. Also gratitude to my beloved daughter, Nabeela Amelya, for being so understanding, supportive and cooperative. Both of them constantly want me to complete my paper though the whole process often took away time from them. I would not have gone this far in achieving the success without their love and belief in me.

And I am eternally grateful to my mother and my father, Khadijah Binti Awang and Mustafa Bin Awang for their everlasting love, constant prayers and understanding that have made it possible to me to accomplish my work. The perseverance in my study as being part of life as well as this study originated a lot from both my mother and my father as their commitment to give education to their children is always inspiring me. I must acknowledge and thank my other family members including in-laws for playing a special part in my life.

IX

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ...................................................................................................................... ii Abstract in Arabic ...................................................................................................... iii Approval Page ............................................................................................................ iv Declaration Page ........................................................................................................ v Copyright Page ......................................................................................................... vi Dedication ................................................................................................................. vii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................... ! Statement of the Problem .............................................................................. 9 Focus of the Study ......................................................................................... 11 Purpose of the Study ...................................................................................... 13 Research Questions ........................................................................................ 14 Significance of the Study ................................................................................ 14 Limitations ...................................................................................................... 15 Delimitations .................................................................................................. 17 Definition of Terms and Concepts ................................................................. 17

CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ...................................................... 22 Introduction .................................................................................................... 22 Conceptual Framework ................................................................................. 22 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................. 23 The Historical Perspectives of Child Care in Malaysia .................................. 24 The Training of Child Care Providers in Malaysia ........................................ 30 The Development of Child Care Services in Malaysia .................................. 3 3 Overview of Child care Centre at Workplace in Malaysia ............................. 38 The Historical Perspectives of Child Care in the United States .................... .41 Contemporary Research on Child Care Quality Services .............................. 43 Defining Quality Child Care ......................................................................... 4 9 Basic Components of Quality Child Care ...................................................... 54 Perspectives on Quality .................................................................................. 55 Provision of Quality ....................................................................................... 58 Measures of Quality ....................................................................................... 64 Quality Child Care and How it Affects Children's Development. ................. 67

Importance of Play in Social Emotional Leaming Development ........... 75 Relationship between Social Emotional Development and Literacy ...... 78

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHOD ................................................................ 82 Introduction ................................................................................................... 82 Research Design ............................................................................................ 82 Data Collection Procedure .............................................................................. 85

X

Population and Sample of the Study .............................................................. 89 Instrument ...................................................................................................... 90 Pilot Study ...................................................................................................... 94 Data Analysis .................................................................................................. 95 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 99

CHAPTER 4: DESCRIPTIONS OF STAKEHOLDERS' CONCEPTION ..... 101 Introduction .................................................................................................... 101 Organizations and Structures .......................................................................... I 02 Environment ................................................................................................... 104 Communications ............................................................................................. 120 Health and Safety ........................................................................................... 121 Programme and Curriculum ........................................................................... 125 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 145

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ......................... 149 Introduction .................................................................................................... 149 Stakeholders' Conception on Quality in Child Care ...................................... 149 Roles of Stakeholders to Ensure Quality in Child Care ................................ 157 Future Research .............................................................................................. 15 7 Conclusions and Implications ......................................................................... 159

BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... 163

APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................ 180 APPENDIX B ............................................................................................................ 182 APPENDIX C ............................................................................................................ 183 APPENDIX D ............................................................................................................ 185 APPENDIX E ............................................................................................................ 198

XI

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

At the beginning of the child care establishment, it was meant to meet the needs of

working mothers or adults while they engaged in the fields. Even nowadays, we still

can hear that the reason behind the support of child care mainly on the easiness to the

parents and to the employers in gaining the best productivity in the workplace. The

issue of quality is not in the agenda at all and as long as there is a space or services

provided, it is all that matters.

To begin our understanding on the child care quality services in the present

time, we must first relate it to women's participation in the workforce. Due to the

rapid economic growth over the last twenty years, many opportunities have been

opened up for Malaysian women in education as well as employment. That scenario

had contributed to more women entering the labour market. It was reported that the

proportion of working women rose from 38.9% in 1970 to 62.9% in 1990

(Government of Malaysia, Sixth Malaysia Plan: 1991-1995, p. 415). Most of the jobs

are urban based in which there is no relative or grandparents' assistance in looking

after the children. Thus a greater proportion of working parents have been leaving

their children behind either at home with poorly educated domestic maids, Indonesian

maids, their elders, the nannies or in child care.

The above phenomenon has led these working parents to become distant from

their beloved children, while they strive at the workplace for the betterment of life.

The working parents are left with no choice except to send their children to child care

centres for more than nine hours per day regardless of the quality of learning that the

young children experience in the environment. Infants and toddlers in more hours of

child care, regardless of its quality will be experiencing less sensitive mothering and

less positive engagement with their mothers compared to those who are not (NICHD

Early Child Care Research Network, 1999). The time spent by the children in the child

care centre is ultimately more than with their own parents. Due to that phenomenon

too, child care centres are seen to be the alternative and expanded greatly. Dahlberg et

al. (2006) said that in many parts of the world, the set-up of the early childhood

institutions was the result of the increasing demand for non-parental care, education

for young children, social intervention and local infrastructure. Therefore the high

demand for child care centres in Malaysia could be traced back to the increase in the

labour market of women in Malaysia.

As a result of high demand from parents, there is rapidly increasing

involvement of the private sector in providing child care, particularly in terms of

bringing "imported" models and materials. In addition, there is a tendency for many in

the private sector to provide 'commercialized' child care which are appealing to

parents but which may not be sound in terms of child development principles.

Increasing numbers of children ages 2 months to three years old being placed in child

care centres is the scenario that needs to be given serious interest. It is also being said

that:

As early childhood rises on the agenda of private and public issues, more and more voices are to be heard in more and more settings talking about early childhood education and care. Yet despite the growing volume and diversity of these voices, most seem to talk the same language of early childhood. Not only is it often literally the same language, as English becomes ever more dominant in the worlds of business, culture, science, technology and research, but it shares the same vocabulary: promoting development; ensuring readiness to learn and readiness for school; enhancing school performance; early intervention for children deemed to be in need, at risk or otherwise disadvantaged; developmentally appropriate practice and desirable

2

outcomes; models and programmemes; plans and cost effectiveness; regulation, standards; and most pervasive of all, the language of quality. (Dahlberg et al., 2006, p. 1)

Some suggestions given to enable us to measure the quality child care will be

on the philosophy where children's individual differences are their priority and

provision of developmentally appropriate experiences to children (Bredekamp, 1987).

Unfortunately, that is not easy to say just by looking at the booklet or brochure of the

centre. The curriculum or the programme contents are in the hands of the child care

centre operators or the owners. Some are just intended to sell or franchise their

programme or promote the fast reading programme that currently is in demand.

Measuring and achieving quality are not as easy as it sounds. As emphasized by

Kagan et al. (1996):

Quality is not achieved easily or quickly. Fields and organizations that have pursued quality have devoted considerable time, energy, and other resources to discern what elements of an infrastructure are necessary, as well as how to secure durable commitments for supporting such structure. For example, in education, the preparation and credentialing of teachers, the regulation of school facilities, the governance by school boards, and the funding by state and localities- components of infrastructure that support quality in schools-have been given considerable attention in recent decades. In early care and education by contrast, there has been less attention to the infrastructure, though it is essential to supporting quality programmemes (p. 6).

Due to that situation, selecting and choosing the best and quality programme

for their children become a headache; thus, parents tend to end up with the programme

that seems interesting, convenient and affordable to them (Kagan & Cohen, 1997).

Many low-income parents tend to send their children to the cost-valued child care

centre rather than focus on the quality itself because they could not afford to pay the

high fees.

Individual institutions will be emphasizing ce1iain common grounds that they

call "frameworks of normalization". Many terms and issues will be brought forward

3

such as curriculum guidelines, rules and regulations for the centre, systems of

inspection and so on (Dahlberg et al., 2006).

The conception of the stakeholders in child care particularly parents, teachers,

administrators and policy makers on quality in child care need to be given priority.

The benchmarking or standardization to define a quality child care from the Malaysian

stakeholders' perspectives will then be drawn up. All that can be a starting point in

meeting the balance to the existing child care centres in the context of research based

and people in the fields. The confusion among the stakeholders are pertaining to

substantial issues such as how care takers should take care of the children, by what

age the children should be reading or start to read and other things. The discussions

about the quality of early childhood programmes often confuse the centre elements

which in tum influence quality with quality itself (Layzer et al., 1993). That was

because their conceptions of a quality child care are not in congruence with each

other. All these are the footing of all grievances that distort the development of young

children. It was also supported by Zinsser (1991):

They don't know what the children need. They think they need to know the alphabet at two years old. So I can't go by what the parents think is right; I have to go by what I know is right. What they think and what I think are two different things (p.115).

With that argument, more information is needed on the quality of child care in

Malaysia in order to understand the internal perspectives of quality and child care.

From that point, an inclusive definition of what we Malaysians mean by quality child

care can be derived. We can then focus our concern on the level of quality child care.

We do not want to jump the gun not knowing what is really meant by quality and yet

talking about implementing high quality child care in our community.

4

As mentioned earlier, many researchers have highlighted that the quality of

early care and education services is absolutely critical in providing a beginning or

foundation for lifelong learning for young children. From the Islamic point of view

also, education is regarded as an important element in life. There is no limitation in

space and time in seeking knowledge or to be educated. It even starts from cradle to

grave where the importance of starting it early has been mentioned by the Prophet

Muhammad (saw) by saying:

"Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave"

The younger the person the better he or she will be in learning or absorbing

something as young children can learn anything. Thus, the most suitable period and

condition for success in seeking knowledge is during the time between the birth and

distinction. As Hassan (1998) states:

The first stage in a child's education is the period between birth and tamyiz ( distinction/discrimination), which is approximately five years and at this stage, the child is like a dry sponge, ready to absorb and moisture it come across. (p. 35)

The quality of early care and education services is absolutely critical in

providing a beginning or foundation for lifelong learning for young children.

Neuroscience research provides new evidence that the early years of development set

the foundation for the skills and competencies that will influence learning abilities,

behaviour and health throughout life (McCain & Mustard, 1999). Thus, there has been

growing evidence that high quality early childhood care and education produce

positive outcomes for children by affecting their developing skills such as social,

cognitive, and language skills (Brofenbrenner & Morris, 1998). The other finding

showed that the children in the centres with some or all of the guidelines (such as

child-staff ratio, group size, and teacher training and education) had better language

5

comprehension and school readiness and fewer behavioural problems for children

ages 2 and 3 than the children who were in centres that failed to meet guidelines.

Another study (Galinsky et. al., 1994) emphasized the setting's safety and the

sensitivity and responsiveness of providers to the children; they found that quality

demonstrated to be higher when providers were trained and when three to six children

rather than one or two were under their care; there is also a relationship between the

quality of Early Childhood and the positive outcome for children's development

(Bowman et al., 2001)

The importance of early childhood care and education is also being expressed

in Islamic sayings. Hence, the quality child care should be seen as an important phase

or period of seeking knowledge which is informal knowledge about life and

surrounding of the child. As indicated by Al-Hassan Al-Basri:

"Leaming Tradition in childhood is like engraving on stone" and for Abu Hurayra (May Allah be pleased with him) "He, who acquires knowledge in his childhood is like someone who makes tattoos on a stone, and he who acquires knowledge in his old age is like someone who writes on a watery surface". Alaqama is also reported to have said, "what I learn when I was a young man is still as fresh in my memory as if it was recorded on a sheet of paper (El-Hakkouni, 1998).

Therefore quality child care is a crucial factor in balancing the participation of

parents in the workforce and for the child's development. It is also important in the

context of lifelong learning where the child care centre is seen as a basic to a child's

education.

Early childhood development studies and research in the Malaysian scenario

are new in which many areas are yet to be explored. In Vision 2020, the commitment

to the promotion of the impo1iance of early childhood education has been made up

and yet the result is far from what it is supposed to achieve. In the case of Malaysia,

several researches have discussed the issues in early childhood education in particular

6

the kindergarten or preschool issues. For example a study was conducted on teachers'

and parents' understanding of the concept of play in child development and education

(Mastura, 2003). Nureeyah (2004) examined and conducted critical analysis on the

IIUM EDUCARE kindergarten curriculum by focusing on the criterion of early

childhood education generally and Islamic philosophy of education specifically.

Norizan (2008) noted that parents and educators' views vary with regards to the idea

of beginning the preschool as early as 4 years old.

Some studies (e.g., Rusinah et al., 2007; Zoharah et al., 2007) have

investigated the child care issues per se. Rusinah et al. (2007) conducted a study on

implementation of safety procedures at day care centres from the parents' perspectives

and Zoharah et al. (2007) is one of the studies that looked into child care centres at the

workplace in Malaysia. The study discussed the issues and challenges involved in

establishing a child care centre at the workplace in Malaysia.

With regard to the above, the relationship between quality of child care and

outcomes for children is of increasing interest to many people or the major

stakeholders in early childhood education and care including parents, teachers,

researchers, and policymakers. Besides, the connotation of quality and early childhood

care and education has been widely discussed and it is still being one of the subjects of

research. Therefore, the importance of early childhood care and education with regard

to quality and the child care have been seen as more reliable and valid as many issues

being supp01ied by the studies done.

Children who experienced higher quality child care centres had shown better

performance in their cognitive skills such as in mathematics and language abilities as

well as social skills (Peisner et al., 1999). Regardless of the word quality, child care

may be linked with negative effect as it is "a relatively persuasive circumstantial case

7

can be made that early infant care may be associated with increased avoidance of

mother, possibly to the point of greater insecurity in the attachment relationship"

(Belsky, 1986, p. 6). The child care experience during infancy may have a negative effect

on the ability of the child to develop a secure relationship with the mother. Thus, knowing

the positive and negative outcomes of quality child care, this study is intended to elicit

and describe the stakeholders' conceptions of quality child care.

Numerous quantitative studies had been conducted to provide conceptions of

what quality child care means. The respondents involved were providing the list of

what certain people believed to be quality indicators. It is good in the sense that the

studies are structured and the validity of the instruments is assured as they are being

validated. However, it tends to mould the conceptions of the stakeholders toward the

instruments given. Quality in early childhood services is a constructed concept,

subjective in nature and based on values, beliefs and interest, rather than an objective

and universal reality. Quality child care is, to a large extent, in the eye of the beholder

(Pence and Moss, 1994, p. 172). Thus, it can be said that:

... conceptions of quality early care and education vary throughout the world, with different combinations of factors to be important. We consider a variety of factors in this chapter, including the structural aspects of programmes; the outcomes and goals programmes help children achieve, such as health and safety, socioemotional development, or preparation for school; and the degree to which programmes have a homelike environment, have a community orientation, provide coherence and continuity, or embody consensus building. We also consider how conceptions of quality vary according to the particular stakeholder, the socioeconomic status and culture, the age of the child, and whether early care and education is seen as a right or a privilege (Bush & Phillips, 1996, p. 65).

Nonetheless very limited studies have been done on the major stakeholders'

understanding as well as an evaluation on the quality of early childhood in Malaysia.

8

Sadly to say, this is happening not only in Malaysia but also in the West. Kagan and

Cohen ( 1996) recognized how:

Early care and education--unlike education for older children--has never been considered an entitlement. Periodic investments by federal, state, and local governments and by business, coupled with marginal commitments to quality, have resulted in programmes that are often poorly staffed, poorly housed, and poorly run (p. x).

As a result, a standardization for the curriculum is far from reaching the aims

to give proper care and education to our children. If we want to look at the authority's

jurisdiction, we may pin point that to the government; as Kagan (1996) stated, "as the

nature of government involvement in early care and education is debated, few if any

suggest that government alone can guarantee a quality system" (p. 8). The continued

involvement among them is necessary as they are carrying different roles and

responsibilities that complement each other and thus build a strong collaboration for

the betterment of young children's programmes. "The point is that government

involvement in early care and education is necessary, but it is not a panacea. Early

care and education must be a shared responsibility" (Kagan et al., 1996, p. 9).

Therefore, there is a real need for the government particularly the Ministry of Women,

Family and Community Development to join and share the responsibility with the

people involved in early childhood care and education in Malaysia.

ST A TEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Despite the mushrooming of child care centres throughout the country due to high

demand, there are issues in putting the standardization or the benchmarking on the

quality child care into place. The centres exist by so many different names and that

puts us in limbo in knowing whether they can be reliable or not. Given this situation, it

is a high time for us to put the standardization or the benchmarking in child care

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services in Malaysia by focusing on the concept of quality. Quality itself, however, is

rather vague even to early childhood experts:

We have attempted to delineate two alternative discourses and concepts-quality and meaning making- and we have argued that each is located within a very different philosophical position and premised therefore on every different assumptions and perspectives. It makes no sense to compare them in terms of which is better and which worse. Furthermore, even if the discourse of meaning making were to be more widely adopted, it will co-exist alongside the discourse of quality for the foreseeable future (Dahlberg et al, 2006, p. 115).

However, identifying the benchmarking as well as standardization regardless

of the civilization, culture, nation and religion in defining quality child care is not a

simple thing to do. The idea of quality child care can be elaborated even in a complex

way of understanding it. As Woodhead (1996) suggested:

I challenge the global distribution of any one single framework of quality. Such a framework might inevitably lead to a world of uniformity, a standardized recipe for the quality of childhood. There are many potential criteria for quality which are closely linked to belief about goals and functions ... These beliefs are in tum shaped by perspectives on childhood, by cultural patterns and personal values (pp. 17, 37).

As an international buzz word, "quality" does not only refer to child care

services but in everything particularly services and products. As Woodhead (1996)

noted:

Identifying basic standards is too often a euphemism for adopting the quality indicators that preoccupy program managers in materially affluent, industrialized, urban societies (notably building standards, staff qualifications and ratios and material resources). These indicators originate from circumstances of economic affluence, professionalized employment patterns, combined with materialistic and technological values. (p. 48).

As mentioned earlier, many researchers have highlighted that the quality of

early care and education services is absolutely critical in providing a beginning or

foundation for lifelong learning for young children. From the Islamic point of view

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also, education is regarded as an important element in life. There is no limitation in

space and time in seeking knowledge or to be educated. It even starts from cradle to

grave where the importance of starting it early has been mentioned by the Prophet

Muhammad (saw) by saying: "Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave."

The younger the person the better he or she will be in learning or absorbing

something as young children can learn anything. Thus, the most suitable period and

condition for success in seeking knowledge is during the time between the birth and

distinction. As Hassan (1998) states: "The first stage in a child's education is the

period between birth and tamyiz ( distinction), which is approximately five years and

at this stage, the child is like a dry sponge, ready to absorb and moisture it come

across." (p. 35)

It is hoped that in applying a qualitative way of getting to the respondents'

conceptions of what quality child care means to them, the intent of this study is to

come to the consensus on their perceptions of quality in child care and to come out

with the benchmark or guidelines for quality child care in a more transparent way.

Thus, in guiding young children's learning and development, this study 1s

worthy to be conducted as it makes a substantial contribution to the previous studies

mentioned. The inspiration for the research should take into consideration the

"Malaysianization" concept in general or the Muslim concept in specific for

developing the benchmark of quality child care.

FOCUS OF THE STUDY

In experimental, quasi experimental, and correlational studies which is also referring

to the positivist paradigm, the researcher would focus on the confirmation or the

prediction of the hypotheses made and then to generalize it to other situations. It gives

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us an understanding that "the positivist research paradigm is assumed by many to

define "scientific" inquiry. Traditional quantitative research in early childhood and

other fields is based on the positivist assumption that reality exists and is driven by

universal, natural laws. Positivists treat reality as being componential, that is,

consisting of components that can be taken apart for study, separately verified, and put

back together. They assume an objective universe that has order independent of

human perceptions. Researchers and the objects of their research are assumed to be

mutually independent. The product of positivist research is verifiable knowledge in

the form of facts, theories, and laws. Prediction is the ultimate aim of positivist

science--if conditions are controlled, positivist researchers can predict what will

happen when changes are introduced" (Hatch & McLaughlin, 2006, pp. 498-499).

The main focus in the positivist paradigm is on the relationship or association

among the variables rather than the causes of the phenomenon studied (Porter, 1982).

Porter (1982) stated that:

although focusing on observable behaviors is especially amenable to quantitative approaches, much effort is also devoted to designing measures which assess processes which are not easily observed such as people's attitudes, values, and thought patterns (p. 45).

In the qualitative case study or the naturalist paradigm the processes such as

the people's perspectives, experiences, views, and so on are more important than the

end result. Stake (1995) suggested that in qualitative research: " ... we want to

appreciate the uniqueness and complexity of self, the case, its embeddedness and

interaction with its contexts" (p. 16). These two different paradigms allow us to know

and understand different things about the world in their own different ways. Thus, the

central focus of the thesis, considering previous studies, will be applying qualitative

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way of getting to the participants' conceptions or the different ways they understand

quality child care in particular, in the selected child care centres in Malaysia.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Though we cannot avoid some differences in their approaches, the aims of child care

centres will be the same such as in making quality child care work, there should be a

very strong commitment from all the stakeholders. The purpose of this study is to

elicit and describe the parents', teachers' and administrators' conception of quality in

child care in selected national higher institutions in Malaysia. It is also the intent of

this study to come to the consensus on their perceptions of quality in child care and to

come out with the benchmark or guidelines for quality child care.

The task of standardizing the benchmarking issue of quality child care is not in

the hands of one stakeholder but to be shared by all the stakeholders namely teachers,

administrators, parents and the policy makers as well. Each of the stakeholders must

play their own roles. With that purpose too, all the stakeholders will be talking the

same language when they refer to what quality child care means. Their own distinct

perspectives based on their own interest will be put together to improve the situation.

They will then communicate better and develop more meaningful relationships among

each other for the sake of the children.

By looking at the conceptions of quality child care from different angles,

another aim to achieve is to better understand the needs of young children through the

eyes of the parents, teachers, administrators and policy makers. Therefore, the

researcher hopes to identify and define the appropriate quality conceptions for the

Malaysian context. This study will also investigate care givers' or teachers'

understanding of early childhood quality and the implementation of child care.

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